By Christine Greyvenstein It was a black day for South Africa, literally, as people dressed in black on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 in protest against the much-dreaded and controversial Protection of State Information Bill. In true funereal style we mourned the news that the National Assembly voted in mass support of the socalled ‘secrecy Bill’. Parliament was just the beginning – the bill is now on its way to being signed into law. It is for this very reason that we, as the COUP team, decided to ‘censor’ our cover as a sign of what could possibly (again) become the country’s future. COUP editor, Marie Straub, had something different in mind for the cover, but following the National Assembly’s vote, it was a no-brainer. “At first we were musing over something with a Michael J Fox look-alike for the Back to the Future cover, but the threat that the proposed Protection of State Information Bill poses to the media and those who are brave enough to act as informants and whistleblowers is too great for us to ignore and too important not to engage with.” Straub also wants the cover to be a call to action. “January is a time when people are looking at the year ahead, planning for 2012, and we firmly believe that all South Africans should include taking an active stance against the bill in its current format on their to-do lists. Alternatively, we’ll be looking at a future that really is backwards.” 17●JANUARY●2012●COUP